Marcel Dalio

Marcel Dalio (born Marcel Benoit Blauschild; 23 November 1899 in Paris – 18 November 1983) was a French movie actor. He had major roles in two films directed by Jean Renoir, La Grande Illusion (1937) and The Rules of the Game (1939).
Life and career
Early life in France
Dalio was born Marcel Benoit Blauschild in Paris to Romanian-Jewish immigrant parents. He trained at the Paris Conservatoire and performed in revues from 1920. Dalio appeared in stage plays from the 1920s and acted in French films in the 1930s. His first big film success was in Julien Duvivier's Pépé le Moko (1937). He followed them with two films for Jean Renoir, La Grande Illusion (1937) and The Rules of the Game (La Règle du jeu, 1939).
After divorcing his first wife, Jany Holt, he married the young actress Madeleine Lebeau in 1939.
Wartime exile
In June 1940, Dalio and Lebeau left Paris ahead of the invading German army and reached Lisbon. They are presumed to have received transit visas from Aristides de Sousa Mendes, allowing them to enter Spain and journey on to Portugal. It took them two months to get visas to Chile. However, when their ship, the S.S. Quanza, stopped in Mexico, they were stranded (along with around 200 other passengers) when the Chilean visas they had purchased turned out to be forgeries. Eventually they were able to get temporary Canadian passports and entered the United States. Meanwhile, the advancing German Nazi army in occupied France used posters of his face as a representative of "a typical Jew". All other members of Dalio's family died in Nazi concentration camps.
In Hollywood, although Dalio was never quite able to regain the profile he had in France, he appeared in 19 American films during the Second World War, in stereotypical roles as a Frenchman. Dalio's first film in the United States was the Fred MacMurray comedy One Night in Lisbon (1941) in which he portrayed a hotel concierge. Around the same time, he appeared in the Edward G. Robinson film Unholy Nights and the Gene Tierney film The Shanghai Gesture (also 1941). He remained busy, appearing in Flight Lieutenant (1942) starring Pat O'Brien and Glenn Ford. Dalio next portrayed a Frenchman, Focquet, in the film The Pied Piper (also 1942). In this film, Monty Woolley portrayed an Englishman trying to get out of France with an ever-increasing number of children ahead of the German invasion. Dalio then appeared among the star-studded cast in Tales of Manhattan (both 1942).
In the uncredited role of Emil the croupier in Casablanca (also 1942), he appeared in the scene when Captain Renault closes down Rick's Cafe American using the pretext, "I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!", Emil approaches him and hands him his usual bribe money saying, "Your winnings sir", while Rick darts Emil a flabbergasted look. His wife Madeleine Lebeau was also in the film, playing Yvonne, Rick's intermittent girlfriend. On 22 June, while Lebeau was filming her scenes with Hans Twardowski as the German officer, Dalio filed for divorce in Los Angeles on the grounds of desertion.
He was cast in some larger roles, for example in the war dramas Tonight We Raid Calais and Paris After Dark (both 1943), in the latter his ex-wife Lebeau also appeared. Dalio played a French policeman in The Song of Bernadette (also 1943). His penultimate wartime role in an American film was in the adaptation of To Have and Have Not (1944) reuniting him with Humphrey Bogart.
Postwar
When the war in Europe ended in May 1945, Dalio returned to France to continue his movie career. His first appearance that year was in Her Final Role (Son dernier rôle, 1946). He appeared in ten more movies in France and one in England through the late 1940s. He played Captain Nikarescu in Black Jack (1950).
Dalio appeared in four American movies in the mid-1950s. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe and Flight to Tangier (both 1953) starring Joan Fontaine, Lucky Me starring Doris Day and Sabrina (both 1954) starring Bogart and Audrey Hepburn. In Sabrina, the bearded Dalio played one of Hepburn's fellow cooking students in Paris. He then briefly returned to France.
Dalio portrayed the Claude Rains character, Captain Renault, in the short-lived television series Casablanca (1955). Dalio had the role of a French sergeant in the war drama Jump into Hell (also 1955) about the French defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam. Dalio appeared in the musical comedy Ten Thousand Bedrooms starring Dean Martin, with Paul Henreid in the supporting cast. He also appeared as a French priest in a war movie, again about the French involvement in Vietnam, called China Gate which features the acting of Nat King Cole. Finally that year, Dalio played Zizi in The Sun Also Rises (all 1957) his third movie based on an Ernest Hemingway novel, this time starring Tyrone Power and Ava Gardner. Over the next four years, he appeared in Lafayette Escadrille, The Perfect Furlough (both 1958) starring Tony Curtis, The Man Who Understood Women starring Henry Fonda, Pillow Talk (both 1959) starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day, Can-Can (1960) starring Frank Sinatra and The Devil at 4 O'Clock (1961) starring Sinatra and Spencer Tracy.
After making more movies in France, Dalio received a major supporting role in the mystery The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), set entirely in England but filmed primarily in Hollywood. Two of Dalio's previous co-stars, Tony Curtis and Frank Sinatra, had cameos in the film. This was followed with the part of Father Cluzeot in the John Wayne movie, Donovan's Reef (also 1963). After appearing again with Tony Curtis in Wild and Wonderful (1964), Dalio returned to France. He continued making movies for Hollywood, but he also appeared in many French productions.
Later movies featuring Dalio include Lady L (1965) starring Sophia Loren and Paul Newman, How to Steal a Million (1966) starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole and How Sweet It Is! (1968) starring Debbie Reynolds and James Garner. In Mike Nichols' Catch-22 Dalio played the old Italian living in the whorehouse, while he also appeared in The Great White Hope (both 1970) with James Earl Jones. From then on, he did movies almost entirely in France, the best known of them being The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973) and (1975) directed by Walerian Borowczyk. His last appearance was in a TV movie portraying Lord Exeter in Les Longuelune (1982).
Television
Dalio also appeared in numerous television shows both in the United States (between 1954 and 1963) and in France (1968 to 1981). These include guest appearances in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Peter Gunn, 77 Sunset Strip, Maverick (in "Game of Chance" with James Garner and Jack Kelly), Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond and Ben Casey.
Dalio married Hollywood based French journalist Madeleine [Alena] Prime in Los Angeles, in 1981.
Dalio, who appeared in almost 150 movies, died in Paris on 18 November 1983, just 5 days shy of his 84th birthday. He is buried in Cimetière parisien de Montrouge in Hauts de Seine, France.
Selected filmography
Olive passager clandestin (1931) – Caravanos
The Night at the Hotel (1932) – Jérôme
My Hat (1933) – Bokalas
Les affaires publiques (1934) – Le speaker / Le sculpteur / Le capitaine des pompiers / L'amiral
Turandot, Princess of China (1935) – Hippolyte
Return to Paradise (1935) – Le notaire
Le golem (1936) – (uncredited)
When Midnight Strikes (1936)
Beethoven's Great Love (1936) – L'éditeur Steiner
Pépé le Moko (1937) – L'Arbi
White Cargo (1937) – Pérez
L'Homme à abattre (1937)
Marthe Richard, au service de la France (1937) – Pedro
The Pearls of the Crown (1937) – Le ministre d'Abyssinie
La Grande Illusion (1937) – Le lieutenant Rosenthal
Sarati the Terrible (1937) – Benoît
The Kiss of Fire (1937) – Le photographe
Miarka (1937) – Le maire
Rail Pirates (1938) – Le mercenaire
Mollenard (1938) – Happy Jones
Chéri-Bibi (1938) – Le donneur
La Maison du Maltais (1938) – Matteo Gordina – le Maltais
The Curtain Rises (1938) – Le jude d'instruction
Conflict (1938) – L'usurier / The Money-Lender
The White Slave (1939) – Le sultan Soliman
La Tradition de minuit (1939) – Édouard Mutter, l'antiquaire
La Règle du jeu (1939) – Marquis Robert de la Cheyniest
Sacred Woods (1939) – Zakouskine, le danseur
Thunder Over Paris (1940) – Barel
One Night in Lisbon (1941) – Concierge
Unholy Partners (1941) – Molyneaux
The Shanghai Gesture (1941) – The Master of the Spinning Wheel
Flight Lieutenant (1942) – Marcel Faulet (uncredited)
The Pied Piper (1942) – Focquet
Tales of Manhattan (1942) – 2nd Salesman at Santelli's (Fields sequence) (uncredited)
Casablanca (1942) – Emil – Croupier at Rick's (uncredited)
Tonight We Raid Calais (1943) – Jacques Grandet
The Constant Nymph (1943) – Georges
Paris After Dark (1943) – Luigi – Quisling Barber
Flesh and Fantasy (1943) – Clown (uncredited)
The Desert Song (1943) – Tarbouch
The Song of Bernadette (1943) – Callet
Action in Arabia (1944) – Chakka – Arab Henchman at Airport
Pin Up Girl (1944) – Pierre (uncredited)
Wilson (1944) – Premier Georges Clemenceau
To Have and Have Not (1944) – Gérard (Frenchy)
A Bell for Adano (1945) – Zito
Her Final Role (1946) – Ardouin
Pétrus (1946) – Luciani
Temptation Harbour (1947) – Insp. Dupré
The Damned (1947) – Larga
Snowbound (1948) – Stefano Valdini
Judicial Error (1948) – Dinari
Dédée d'Anvers (1948) – Marco
Dark Sunday (1948) – Max – l'éditeur
The Lovers Of Verona (1949) – Amedeo Maglia
Wicked City (1949) – Aimé – un nervi
Portrait of an Assassin (1949) – Fred dit Bébé
Maya (1949) – Le steward
Menace de mort (1950) – Denis
Black Jack (1950) – Captain Nikarescu
Oriental Port (1950) – Zarapoulos
On the Riviera (1951) – Philippe Lebrix
Rich, Young and Pretty (1951) – Claude Duval
Nous irons à Monte-Carlo (1951) – Poulos – l'imprésario
Lovely to Look At (1952) – Pierre
The Merry Widow (1952) – Police Sergeant
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) – Emile
The Happy Time (1952) – Grandpere Bonnard
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) – Magistrate
Flight to Tangier (1953) – Goro
Monte Carlo Baby (1953) – Melissa Farrell's Agent
Lucky Me (1954) – Anton
La Patrouille des sables (1954) – Maillard
Sabrina (1954) – Baron St. Fontanel
Tres hombres van a morir (1954) – Maillard
The Lovers of Lisbon (1955) – Porfirio
Jump Into Hell (1955) – Sgt. Taite
Razzia sur la chnouf (1955) – Paul Liski
Miracle in the Rain (1956) – Marcel – Waiter
Anything Goes (1956) – Ship's Captain (uncredited)
Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957) – Vittorio Cisini
China Gate (1957) – Father Paul
The Sun Also Rises (1957) – Zizi
Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957) – Toto del Aro
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1958) (Season 3 Episode 22: "The Return of the Hero") - Corporal Marcel Marchand
Lafayette Escadrille (1958) – Drill Sergeant
The Perfect Furlough (1958) – Henri Valentin
Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (10/2/1959) -Jean Gabeau, Ghost -('The Dark Room', episode)
The Man Who Understood Women (1959) – Le Marne
Pillow Talk (1959) – Pierot
Can-Can (1960) – Andre – the head waiter
Classe Tous Risques (1960) – Arthur Gibelin
Song Without End (1960) – Chelard
The Devil at 4 O'Clock (1961) – Gaston
Jessica (1962) – Luigi Tuffi
Cartouche (1962) – Malichot
Le Petit Garçon de l'ascenseur (1962) – Antonio
The Law of Men (1962) – L'avocat Plautet
Le Diable et les Dix Commandements (1962) – Le bijoutier / Jeweler (segment "Luxurieux point ne seras")
L'Abominable Homme des douanes (1963) – Gregor
The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) – Max Karoudjian
Donovan's Reef (1963) – Father Cluzeot
À couteaux tirés (1964) – Jean Grégor / Gregor Veloni
Wild and Wonderful (1964) – Dr. Reynard
The Monocle Laughs (1964) – Elie Mayerfitsky
Male Companion (1964) – Socratès
Tintin and the Blue Oranges (1964) – (voice, uncredited)
Lady L (1965) – Sapper
Made in Paris (1966) – Georges
Un garçon, une fille. Le dix-septième ciel (1966) – Le maître d'hôtel
How to Steal a Million (1966) – Senor Paravideo
Tender Scoundrel (1966) – Le père de Véronique
The 25th Hour (1967) – Strul
The Oldest Profession (1967) – Me Vladimir Leskov (segment "Aujourd'hui")
How Sweet It Is! (1968) – Louis
Du blé en liasses (1969) – Vanessian
Justine (1969) – French Consul General
Catch-22 (1970) – Old Man in Whorehouse
The Great White Hope (1970) – French Promoter
L'amour c'est gai, l'amour c'est triste (1971) – M. Paul
Aussi loin que l'amour (1971) – Le milliardaire
Papa les p'tits bateaux (1971) – Boudu, le clochard
Les Yeux fermés (1972) – Le vieux monsieur
La punition (1973) – Le Libanais
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973) – Rabbi Jacob
Ursule et Grelu (1974) – Le réceptionniste
Dédé la tendresse (1974)
(1975) – Duc Rammendelo De Balo
Let Joy Reign Supreme (1975) – Le noble suffocant au repas (uncredited)
Trop c'est trop (1975) – Saint-Pierre
La chatte sur un doigt brûlant (1975) – Hector Franbourgeois
Le faux-cul (1975) – Cohen
Hard Love (1975) – Le maître d'hôtel
The Wing or the Thigh (1976) – Le tailleur de Duchemin
Solemn Communion (1977) – Old Charles Gravet
Shadow of the Castles (1977) – Père Renard
L'Honorable Société (1978) – Marcel
One Page of Love (1978) – Le père de Fanny
Surprise Sock (1978) – Monsieur L'église
Le paradis des riches (1978) – Mathieu
Brigade mondaine: Vaudou aux Caraïbes (1980) – Mazoyer
References
External links
Marcel Dalio at the British Film Institute
1899 births
1983 deaths
French Ashkenazi Jews
Male actors from Paris
French male film actors
French male television actors
Jewish French male actors
French people of Romanian-Jewish descent
Burials at the Cimetière parisien de Bagneux
20th-century French male actors
French expatriate male actors in the United States